Child Rape Setence Reduced

Victim's rights advocates are outraged after a Montgomery County judge reduced the sentence of a convicted child rapist by 14 years. (Published Tuesday, May 18, 2010)

Lay, 26, has been in jail for five years for the crime, and his lawyer, Reginald Bours III, said his client has been brutally assaulted repeatedly in a state prison by other inmates. Bours said that was among several factors that led the judge to reduce the sentence.

Bours said the judge was convinced that Lay took responsibility for the crime and that rehabilitation treatments at another jail would be better than being the constant subject to an attack.

NOW Protests Judge Over Rapist's Sentence

Members of NOW protest a Montgomery County judge's decision to reduce a child rapist's sentence. (Published Tuesday, May 18, 2010)

Lay will be eligible for parole in 2013.

The NOW protesters said the judge put the rights of Lay ahead of the victim, and that this isn't the first time he has gone easy on child molesters. Two years ago he reduced another man's 18-year sentence to 18 months.